Filament Theatre Marketplace

The purchase of a ticket to a live theatrical production (or any entertainment event, for that matter) is a largely anonymous ritual: you go online, select a ticket that you want at a price arbitrarily set by a producer you never see, present that ticket at the box office, and hope that you haven't wasted your money. It's a system that works, to be sure, or people wouldn't use it, but the folks at Filament Theatre Ensemble felt something was lacking. A personal something.

To that end, they have developed the Filament Marketplace, billed as an "exchange of goods" whose goal is to erase the distance between artist and audience. In effect, it does away with the consumer-based ticket model and turns every audience member into a sponsor with an investment in the production. "It helps make theatre, and the act of going to see live theatre, a community experience versus a faceless financial transaction," says Filament Artistic Director Julie Ritchey.

As an example of how this works, consider Filament's current production of Eurydice, playing at the Lacuna Artist Loft Studios in Pilsen. This performance space costs Filament a total of $3000 for the entire run. The Filament Marketplace divides the cost of renting the space into 100 "sponsorships", worth $30 each. So instead of simply paying $30 per person for the privilege of coming down to Pilsen and seeing Eurydice, a patron may elect to donate $30 towards sponsoring 1/100th of the cost of renting the space. In return for this sponsorship, that patron is entitled to a seat at the show (thus the sponsorships are not tax deductible, although this may change in the future as the concept evolves).

If a $30 sponsorship is more than you can afford, no worries. On the Marketplace site is a list of items that it takes to put on one performance of Eurydice, with the cost broken down into "shares" with varying prices, from $10 to $35. So if $10 is your limit, then you may elect to sponsor, for instance, one copy of the script for an actor or designer, which costs $10. $20 is the most you can pay? $20 will sponsor a portion of an actor's stipend.

The intent is twofold: first, to create a personal connection for the audience by empowering them to choose what aspect of live theatre they are interested in supporting, and then allowing them to directly witness the fruits of that sponsorship; second, to maintain financial transparency by showing patrons exactly where their money is going, as well as laying bare the true costs of mounting a theatrical production.

It should be noted, however, that all Filament productions are general seating; sponsoring a higher-cost item will not buy you a better seat. Nor is it "pay what you can"; there is a minimum. But that doesn't mean that everyone is simply opting for the cheapest item; Filament says that the median purchase price actually "leans [to the] higher" end of the scale. Furthermore, Ritchey says that audience members have approached her before and after the show to share with her what they contributed. And it's not always money: one patron donated the tricycle used by the Lord of the Underworld character. The motley assortment of chairs that make up the audience seating area have almost as many different origins. All of which suggests that the Filament Marketplace is so far achieving its goal: turning the act of performing and seeing live theatre into a shared community experience.

For more information, please visit www.filamenttheatre.org or the Filament Marketplace page directly.